Tanzania: Digital Payment Platform Vital for Poverty Alleviation

Tanzania can make effective use of the fast growing digital payments, particularly mobile money platform to alleviate poverty.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's researcher Ms Rosita Najm said in a telephone interview from Washington on Wednesday that financial connectivity is rapidly becoming the norm rather than the exception all over the world.

"The spread of low cost digital payments through use of mobile phones is making possible for the first time in history to send money directly to the extreme poor in the most remote areas of the country securely, efficiently and in a scalable way," she said.

According to a financial inclusion insights study conducted by InterMedia with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, nearly two-thirds of Tanzanians had mobile money account in 2015. Also that rural Tanzanians and those living below the poverty line showed high increase in access and use of mobile money platform.

She said lower transaction costs will open new markets opportunities to digitally audit payment flows thus reducing the costly corruption that plagues social programmes and reductions in transfer time. "Digital payments help women be more independent.

Before, when we just had cash, it was very tough. To transfer money, I had to go to the bank and they would ask me for a lot of information and require documentation. I had to line up for a long time, more than three hours.

It was a big hassle," she noted.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Financial Services for the Poor programme aims to play a catalytic role in broadening the reach of digital payment systems, particularly in poor and rural areas, and expanding the range of services available on these systems.

Until the infrastructure and customer base are well established, this might involve a combination of mobile money services that are accessible via mobile phones and brick and mortar stores where subscribers can convert cash they earn into digital money.

SOURCE:TANZANIA DAILY NEWS